3B Records
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You can hear it at the top of Slater St, a low pulse bouncing off the once-grimy warehouses and garages, getting louder as you make your way down the road, until the pulse is no longer just that anymore; it’s a thump. A sharp, incessant thump that stops for a second before it starts again. On. Off. On. Off. And at the heart of this noise is a shop, a shop selling space age disco sounds, feeding the habits of a generation of head nodders and disco dancers, some of whom are lined up at the counter, heads facing the racks of records, not speaking, listening, always listening…
By 1989, the acid house explosion had given birth to a market of record hungry kids. The shops of London and Manchester were weighed down with Chicago Trax, Italo House and New York’s groovy garage. And in Liverpool? In Liverpool there was close to nothing, so when three students decided that an hour’s journey along the M62 to Eastern Bloc wasn’t as much fun as it used to be, 3-Beat Records was born and dance music in the city was given a home. They moved into clubs too, bringing the likes of Weatherall, Harvey and Slam to G-Love a night they started with scouse legend, John Kelly. It was voted Best Club by Mixmag in 1991 and in 2002 3 Beat was voted the Best Independent Record Store in Music Week the music industry weekly bible!
Fifteen years on, 3 Beat was given a £30,000 makeover (as they say on Richard & Judy) and moved round the corner from it’s original back street location to the more prominent Slater Street, a homage to the impact dance music has had on this city. There’s always a buzz around the shop, people looking for that tune, for that remix, you can see how much they want it. This is what music does to people. That the local’s and the ones who can make it to the store but there’s 20,000 others too. They don’t live in Liverpool, but the reputation of the shop is such that they buy their tunes by mail order. And who shops here? How about Pete Tong, Sasha, John Digweed, Danny Howells, John Kelly, Yousef, Paul Oakenfold, Graeme Park, Dave Seaman, Groove Armada’s Andy Cato, Timo Maas … the list goes on and on and on. At 3-Beat they must be doing something very right. 3 Beat is now nearing Twenty! To celebrate it’s coming of age they went back into clubland with a series of birthday parties called ‘Back To The Old ‘Pool’ with the wealth of music behind them such as Ce Ce Rogers, Marshall Jefferson, FPI Project, Alex Paterson – The Orb these were some of the best nights of 2007 / 2008!
The key to any sorted record shop are the staff, they spot the trends, they feed the vinyl addictions. In 3-Beat everybody offers something; There’s Pezz the manager, the man, a prog house godfather who has played everywhere from the Hacienda to America and back to Ibiza and was also part of legendary DIY Crew, Thomas who teases customers with the cooler house sounds and wicked eclectic vibes and DJ’s at his own ‘Troubled Souls’ night. All that is Scouse house is served up by one of the newer boys Rob Cain a local legend in the making – producing as Total Control, Jemmy who co ordinates mail order and dj’s at Aztec and at Sankeys and more recently warming up the proceedings at Cream for Sasha and Digweed. Last but by no means least is Adam Helliwell from ‘Dislodged’ who likes prog, makes techie tunes and looks after breaks, techno and drum & bass in the shop, and still has time to DJ in places like San Fran and Jakarta and everywhere inbetween!
Anthony Teasdale
3 Beat Records unfortunately shut its doors for the final time on the 4th June 2009. Not quite making 20 years but getting closer than most…
The staff, Thomas, Adam and Jemmy took over the premises and have started a new venture called 3B Records – we wish them well and good luck…
